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MLB Exec Discusses Ferrell’s Preseason Run
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Image courtesy of MLB.
W
ill Ferrell is click bait, and New Yorkbased Major League Baseball knows it, so when the comedic actor offered to team up with the league to raise money for cancer charities during the preseason, MLB execs bit. Ferrell’s appearances not only would generate ticket sales at spring training games—an ancillary benefit, according to MLB—but also would have legs online, drawing attention to the 2015 MLB season. The focus, though, was on raising money for and awareness of the charities affiliated with the promotion, says Dinn Mann, executive vice president of content for MLB.com, who recently spoke with Marketing News Weekly about Ferrell’s prodigious, if shortlived, run at professional baseball. On March 12, Ferrell visited five MLB spring training ballparks in Arizona, playing all nine baseball positions for 10 different teams: the Seattle Mariners, Oakland Athletics, Chicago Cubs, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, Cincinnati Reds, Arizona Diamondbacks, San Francisco Giants, Chicago White Sox, Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres. Ferrell “coached” third base for the Cubs, holding up poster board signs that read, “You are SOOOO handsome,” and, “Remember, these games don’t count.” Memorabilia from Ferrell’s playing time was auctioned off on MLB.com to benefit Temecula, Calif.-based Cancer for College and Los Angeles-based Stand Up to Cancer. The effort raised $1 million for the charities via the auctions and donations. HBO and online comedy platform Funny or Die will chronicle Ferrell’s epic day in an upcoming special dedicated to the fight against cancer, which will air later this summer.
On March 12, 2015, actor Will Ferrell visited five MLB spring training ballparks in Arizona, playing all nine positions for 10 different teams, as part of an MLB fundraising initiative for cancer charities.
The campaign was promoted on Twitter with the hashtag #FerrellTakesTheField and generated 471 million total Twitter impressions, according to MLB. Three tweets paid tribute to three of Ferrell’s movies (Old School, Stepbrothers and Anchorman): a photo of Ferrell eating a hot dog during his game with the Arizona Diamondbacks, captioned, “Once it hits your lips, it’s so good!”; a video of Ferrell arriving via helicopter to one of the games, captioned, “It’s the Catalina Wine
Mixer”; and a tweet from Chicago Cubs pitcher Jon Lester: “Remember, it’s hot out there. Milk would be a bad choice!” Mann explains the origins of the promotion and how MLB made the most of it.
Q
How did the effort come about? Was Will Ferrell paid for his participation?
A
The idea was hatched late last fall, and bringing the
marketing news | May 2015
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4/24/15 2:02 PM